GRAHAM The most prolific passing season in Graham’s recent rich history of quarterbacks wasn’t set by a household name who started 16 games at the University of Texas.

It isn’t the current quarterback at Hardin-Simmons who led the Cowboys to the Division III playoffs last month. Nor is it a two-time TRN Red River 22 Most Valuable Player who guided Graham to eight playoff victories under his watch.

No, the most prolific passing season the Steers’ faithful has ever seen comes from a guy who played tight end his freshman season. From a guy who only spent one year in Graham’s complex system before being thrown into the fire on varsity.

Tucker Horn admits he wasn’t even into football that much when he moved from Frenship to Young County the summer before he entered high school. That probably feels like an eternity ago for the diligent senior who will text Graham offensive coordinator Casey Dacus daily when he notices a tendency watching film at night.

Horn’s transformation from a freshman tight end to one of the best Class 4A quarterbacks in the state is a remarkable tale, but it’s no fluke. In leading the highest-scoring offense in school history, Horn has thrown for 4,018 yards and 53 touchdowns during a 14-0 start that has the Steers in the semifinals.

He’s been at his best in these playoffs, increasing his streak without an interception to eight games. Horn’s 18 postseason touchdown passes are only four fewer than his incompletion total during a romp through Region I-4A Division II where he completed 60 of 82 attempts. Last week’s 590-yard, seven-touchdown masterpiece against Bushland was Horn’s finest hour.

But Horn’s brilliance didn’t happen overnight. Here are three reasons behind how Horn landed his name in the Steers’ record books with the likes of Case McCoy, Ben Davis and Landry Turner.'

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Graham quarterback Tucker Horn has set the school record of 53 touchdown passes entering Thursday's state semifinal against Texarkana Pleasant Grove.(Photo: Lauren Roberts/Times Record News)

Perfect landing spot

Horn had been a quarterback in Fresnhip’s power-I offense in middle school, but he found a new home before he started high school. Tucker said his family prefers the small-town atmosphere and the Lubbock area where he lived was sprawling. Having a lake house at Possum Kingdom, the Horns were familiar with the area and decided to call Graham home.

“I wasn’t into the whole football thing. I liked it, but I didn’t love it,” Horn recalled. “After my freshman year (which included Graham making the state semifinals), I saw what they could do and it just grew on me.”

Landry Turner, who threw 21 TD passes at Hardin-Simmons this fall, was entering his senior year in 2015, and Graham’s coaches were tasked with finding his successor. Joel Jones had been the freshman team’s quarterback, but the Steers’ staff knew he’d be an asset as a varsity linebacker as a sophomore.

Horn was given the choice of staying as a receiver or trying out at quarterback. He chose the latter, much to the chagrin of the area defensive coordinators the past two seasons.

McCoy and Turner were sons of offensive-minded head coaches who were entrenched in the sport for years before entering high school. Davis was a revelation, but he’d always been in the program. Here was Horn having to cram everything about his expanded offensive role in one year before he’d be on varsity.

“When we started talking football, I could tell he had a high IQ,” Dacus said. “When you run the spread and your quarterback can think, that’s a major advantage. We made that move when he was a sophomore and he really took to it and did well. We knew we were going to have a good one when he got older.”

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While he's not a running quarterback, Tucker Horn is elusive in the pocket and knows when to step away from danger.(Photo: Torin Halsey/Times Record News)

Student of the game

Horn recently earned first-team academic all-state honors, but his intelligence carries over from the classroom to the football field.

Dacus said what sets the 6-foot-1, 193-pounder apart from most quarterbacks is what’s between his ears. Horn had a productive junior season, throwing for 2,625 yards and 20 touchdowns, but there were times the game moved too fast for him or the wrong decisions were made.

“At the beginning of last year, it was really difficult for him because it was his first live reps at that speed,” Dacus said. “He struggled early, but he took to it like a duck to water. The more comfortable he got, I knew he was going to have a special year.

“When we got to 7-on-7 and I watched the rapport he had with the guys and the way he called plays during 7-on-7 and the way he attacked defenses, I knew we weren’t going to have any issues.”

Horn said he can diagnose defenses better now and feels comfortable changing a play at the line of scrimmage. In return, Dacus has given Horn more freedom to calling an audible than any quarterback he’s ever coached. The offensive coordinator trusts Horn to call a run if that’s what the defensive front dictates.

Statistical proof of Horn’s savvy pre-snap decision-making comes in his interception total. He has only thrown five picks in 345 attempts, and four of those came on tipped passes. The fifth was against Stephenville when serving as the punter he heaved the ball up to avoid getting his kick blocked.

While Horn doesn’t provide as much of a running threat as his predecessors, Dacus said the most underrated aspect of his game is his ability to escape pressure.

“He’s a lot quicker than people realize. He might not have a 40 time of 4.4, but in the pocket for what we ask him to do, he’s really quick and elusive.

“Combine the fact he can read defenses and understand where the pressure is coming from and how to escape it, mix it all together and he’s really comfortable back there. I know Pleasant Grove blitzes a lot of and brings a lot of pressure so he’s going to have to be really good at movement and he knows that.”

Weapons around him

Horn has thrown seven more touchdown passes than McCoy’s previous school record of 46 set during the Steers’ 2009 state finalist run. He’ll enter Thursday’s semifinal against Pleasant Grove 219 yards shy of McCoy’s yardage mark from the same season.

While his strong arm and decision-making have much to do with that production, so too does a plethora of speedy receivers running crisp routes and an offensive line that’s arguably the best unit on the Steers.

“Part of it is these receivers don’t ever have anybody close to them usually,” Horn said. “They do such a good job getting open, and when there aren’t defensive guys in your lap and you have time, it makes it a lot easier to do.”

Callen Mills and Adam Groves were on varsity as sophomores, so they didn’t catch passes from Horn until last season. Not only did Horn have to adapt to the increased speed of the game, but he needed to develop a connection with some new faces.

After a 7-5 campaign ended with an area-round loss in 2016, Horn and his wideouts went to work in the weight room and then turned their attention to 7-on-7 once Christmas break was over. Two of three times a week, they’d spend about 90 minutes working on timing routes.

“He’s a smart guy so he was re-teaching coverages to make sure where the holes and gaps were so we could get open,” receiver Cameron Parker said. “Repetition is a big deal for us, but it also helps that our receiving core and our quarterback are all best friends. We hang out on the weekends so it helps build a chemistry to be able to play together on Friday nights.”

Groves was Graham’s top receiver in 2016, catching 11 of Horn’s 20 touchdown passes, but a back injury suffered in September kept him sidelined for more than a month. That forced Parker and Mills – who caught a combined three TDs last year – to become more involved during a difficult non-district stretch.

Parker is enjoying a breakout season with a team-best 61 catches for 1,113 yards and 17 touchdowns. Groves (31-748-13) is coming off a four-touchdown performance against Bushland and Mills is 69 yards shy of a 1,000-yard season. The top five receivers for the Steers are all seniors with Ben Taylor and Jake Lanham each catching four touchdown passes.

“It was rough on me being out for those six weeks, but I think it paid off,” Groves said. “Usually a team has one or two good receivers, but we have four. A team can’t bracket one receiver. They have to play honest and that’s a good thing.”

It was a good thing when Horn moved to Graham and decided to switch positions after a year. But through hard work, an astute mind and a drive to be the best, Horn has turned it into a great thing.

It's a team game and I know Graham QB Tucker Horn is grateful for the guys around him. But Horn's playoff stats are crazy.

The @SteersFootball signal-caller is 60 of 82 for 1,285 yards and 18 TDs w/ 0 INTs. That's only FOUR more incomplete passes than TDs.